Brokers often provide access to global markets for traders and clients such that clients submit orders using a messaging protocol, such as FIX, or enter them using a desktop application provided by the broker. For example, brokers can provide a trading platform that allows clients to input orders to the system for routing to a particular exchange or market. When an order is executed, a notice of execution or other confirmation can be routed back to the party from which it originated. Additionally, market information can be provided to clients through the trading platform.
Operation of a global trading system typically includes providing access to multiple markets in a plurality of geographic locations. Regional trading platforms are typically deployed close to each market, for example, to reduce latency. Conventionally, traders wishing to execute a trade on an exchange or in a market in a different geographic region would have the trade executed on his or her behalf by an individual (e.g., by communicating the order via telephone, fax, or other message) having access to a trading platform associated with that region.
More recently, systems have been developed that allow a user to access each regional market using a single system using a “replicated scheme,” such as depicted in FIG. 1. In the system depicted in FIG. 1, a user can connect to a regional system which is closely coupled to other regional systems. That is, the functions of each regional trading node must be replicated in each of the other regional trading nodes to expose functionality to all users. For example, updates or changes to the software of the trading platform at each node (e.g., the addition of different order types and corresponding changes to the user interface) must be made to each end user's device (e.g., by installing updates or new software every time a trading platform is updated). Moreover, in such a system, data (including orders from user applications at each trading node) must be replicated in each regional trading node.